Category Archives: 1714 1st Street

If I was a true “blogger”, I would have posted an update some time ago because I know many of you are following and wondering what the latest scoop is. I have not updated because it just seems like there is not much to tell. These past couple months have been mostly about waiting. Waiting for permits, waiting for our construction loan to move along, waiting for the appraisal, waiting for, waiting for, waiting for. It just all seems so boring and not “blog-worthy”.So I wait for my moments, wait for things to get to an interesting spot and then BAM, I’m updating the blog. Truly exciting for all of you, I’m sure…So as I mentioned, it’s been a lot of waiting. But the good news is that now much of the waiting is over. Last week our construction loan was approved. We found a great local bank and a really talented loan specialist, and it has been such a different experience than our loan process with US Bank when we purchased this new property. This lady is really communicative, concise, organized and focused so the process has been pretty seamless. I think it has been more difficult for the builder than us because the loan is directly tied into his budget for the remodel, so he has had to break down every cost line by line and have it match with what we could qualify for. He also had to provide a ton of information similar to a resume to get the bank to know that he was a qualified builder. He’s used to having to do that, so it was fine, but probably more work on his side than ours. We’ve gone through so many loans in the past couple years, we have it down to a science, so it felt pretty painless to us. Overall, good process. We also have a sense of satisfaction because this new “construction” loan combines the mortgage on the new house and the construction loan piece so the original US Bank loan (that was so painful to get) will be paid off and we will move forward with one larger consolidated loan with this new bank. Confusing for sure, but the takeaway is that consolidation is good and the less we have with US Bank the better. We’re officially closing on the loan this week.

Lots of talk about budget… We’ve known all along what our budget would be. We are at the limit of what we can borrow, so we knew there was a limit to the amount of construction loan we could get. It is no surprise that the builder did not seem to register that information. His budget kept going up and up and up, and we kept trying to bring it down, down, down, knowing that we would not even qualify for as much as he wanted/needed to spend. In the end when the bank came back and said “here is what you qualify for”, it was no surprise to us, but the builder was surprised at how low the number was and had to make adjustments, He was way over what we could realistically borrow. I think this is pretty typical of builders, so we just had to dial a few things back and we are moving in the right direction. I still think the builder thinks we have an off shore account with hundreds of thousands of dollars in it, but he’s gonna find out the hard way. He has no idea that we have been maxing out credit cards and scraping together money just to pay his fees, the designers fees and all the other “soft costs” that are associated with the process. But we know where we stand and will just dig in and keep things on track.

Next order of business is permits. We should have permits this week. We knew permits would take a long time. We had some special issues with the sidewalk we have to install and the sewers associated with that. Yes, these things are all our responsibility. That part got really complicated so we had to wait a bit longer for permits, but the approval is near. This sidewalk thing is frustrating. It is really for the city, but we have to pay. Just a way for the city to manage its own costs. We plan to engrave our initials in the cement they pour on that (damn) sidewalk. “Bill and Karen forever” will be permanently part of city property that we paid for. I’m not joking… With the loan approval and the permits in sight, we gave the builder the OK to at least get started on some “soft” demolition on the house. Major milestone right there.

So now this has all become really real. Very recently, very real. It’s been so long since we met with Darren who designed the house, we decided to revisit the plans and figure out what it is we are building. I know, you’re saying, “seriously”??? Yes, we designed the floor plan of the house which was submitted to the city for permits, but after that, it’s been out of sight, out of mind, just waiting. Busy lives, work to deal with, big MagnaMemos orders, lots to do, stuff to deal with, and we have not focused on this endeavor. Now suddenly we have a loan approval, permits are almost upon us, the builders crew is ready to move, and we had an “OH SH**!” moment. Seriously, what is it that we are building, and before the construction starts (and when this builder gets started, he moves FAST), are we happy with it??? Called a panic meeting with the designer and builder, discussed many things, adjusted designs on a few rooms, and revisited many past discussions. Much resolved… WHEW! Good, back in tune with what we have going and we are VERY happy with what we are building. This might be a more fluid process than we originally thought. Sounds like we have room to make changes as we go along and we are getting a feel for how this is all going to work. That was a big relief. Amazing what can happen when you get engaged in the process.

So, we have an interior designer. We have met with said designer. We have discussed floors, tiles, and many other finishes. Spent 2 hours with him and we were exhausted. I have a feeling we are going to be exhausted a lot in the future. Our homework was to go and look at houses. Go tour open houses on new construction and start to get a feel for what we like and how we want things to look. This is our new pastime. Every opportunity we have, we are nosing around trying to see what we like. Now we’re starting to have some fun! Lots to be decided and lots of homework to do, but somehow we will fit it in. We are really finding our style and it is going to be a 360 from what we have now. Can’t wait for you all to see it. So I’m attaching a few photos of the house and some of our picks from our first “design day” and you can let us know what you think.

Took some last photos of the existing house before they demolish it…

Builder is using our backyard as a dumping ground…

Back of the house…

Decided we are keeping this wood burning fireplace on the lower level. Last minute change. We will redo the stone…

Shot from the house looking back. This is where the lot will be divided. A new house will be back there eventually. I hope they start building before we have to cut that grass!

You know something is happening when you have a honey bucket in front of you house!!! Let the construction begin!

A few finishes we like. Leaning toward a gray theme with dark floors and white cabinets in the kitchen. Just getting started…

Thanks to everyone for your feedback… I think the last post was probably a bit much, but I’m glad you’re all following along, and can get a sense for what we’re doing here. We’re so caught up in it now, it’s easy to get lost in all the details when you’re “writing”. Maybe that’s the definition of a blog?

So things have now hit an easy pace. Since we made the decision to go with “plan B” (as my mother has named it), we are well into the process of applying for the construction loan. Just hoping that goes our way and we can get the funds we need to start working and make this all happen. We seem to have found a really good lender after all of Bill’s research. So far much more responsive and communicative than our buddy at US Bank, but I will still reserve judgement as I have not met a good mortgage officer yet. Anyway, we’re back in that loan process and I’m so tired of digging up paperwork, I could cry. On top of all of that, it is tax time. As I mentioned, we hired a tax guy, and for the first year we are not doing our own taxes (or I should say BILL isn’t). In 2014 we refinanced our current home (before we EVER knew we would buy the new place or would never have done that), took out the home equity loan, and purchased the new place. All in one year! Then MagnaMemos has just grown and grown. All of this combined has made the taxes a nightmare. Time to outsource. But it is mounds of paperwork too, so that’s been fun at the same time as applying for the construction loan. ugh. Then the worst part… My company car benefit is going away and I am forced to go on a reimbursement program with which I have to get my own car. Haven’t done that in about 15 years. I know, I know, I am lucky that I still get reimbursed for most of my car, but in the scheme of our financial situation, going out and getting a car loan was not exactly good timing. Went ahead and did it, just completed that process last week and took delivery of my leased car on Friday. Gonna have to explain to the mortgage lender why I would go out and lease a new car while applying for a construction loan. Makes me laugh just thinking about it. She must think we’re crazy. So all in all, we are at a good place and it feels good to be moving in the right direction. HOORAY!

Next up, details on design… So plans are complete for the house. We made some last minute changes to the kitchen and our designer prepared to submit to the city for permits! Unfortunately, that was three weeks ago, and they ran into a problem. When he tried to submit, they had an issue with the sidewalk plan. Many of the lots/houses here are without city sidewalks, and whenever you do this amount of work to an existing property, the city requires you to put in the sidewalks and reroute any drainage etc.. We have to pay for it (most of which will be shared with the back lot, so we will recoup those costs later), and there was some issue with the drain that is currently there and the way that has to be handled. The engineers are working on it, but it has delayed the submission for permits by a few weeks. I hope they get it resolved soon as it is spring now and the city is getting flooded with permit requests. Normally the permits will take 2 months, and then we can start work on the house as long as all is well with our loan. So esentially, we are working on the loan, and waiting for city engineering issues to be resolved before submitting for permits. At least it’s a “calm” time. Hope is to start work by late summer and maybe we could be in by early next year.

The design of the house is great, we are so happy with what we have put together, and now we’re starting to talk details. Met the builder over at the house the other week, and starting talk regarding finishes. Not any decisions, but directionally what we are and aren’t ok with. This helps him refine his costs and start getting us in the right direction stylistically. Sort of a kick off meeting to get us thinking of how we want the inside to look. Pretty cool, and he left us with a lot of materials to look through (photo below) and of course I’m using Pinterest and Houzz to get ideas. Feel free to follow my Pinterest boards (all titled 1714…) if you want to see more of our thoughts on design (@magnamemos).

We’re all about white trim, windows and doors, and with all the windows want a really light feel without being too contemporary or modern. We really compromised with the outside look of the house in order to maximize the view. It looks much more modern than we would like, but it’s really the best design for the space, so we want to inside to be more traditional. Should be interesting to see if we can strike that balance. Most if it will be us educating ourselves on what we really want and using the right terms. Here’s a photo of one of the other houses they have done. Ours will look very similar in design on the outside.

So I introduced the concept of the monolith last post (the birth of one), and I think it is a funny thing. To answer Anne Norton’s question, yes!, it seems to be a Kirkland thing! So our designer is big into this idea of the monolith. Esentially a design element of a chimney of stone on the outside that carries into the inside of the house. Translation: An exposed chimney that sounds more “designer” when you call it a monolith. LOL. But it’s a statement thing, and they have done them on other houses and it is really cool. We’re into the “indoor/outdoor” living thing here, and it fits well into that concept. So attached below are a couple of photos of the other houses they have done and you can see the monolith. This will actually be a key element for us for another reason. It will be our way to give some softer more traditional feel to the outside of the house. With the sloped roof and more modern look, we think the stone we choose for it can tone that down a bit. Then it will also look really cool on the inside. In addition to that, I have been joking about having a “barn door” as the door to my office, and the designer said that he would actually like to see that too. Bill is not a big fan of this idea. I think if I take out the word “barn” he may like the idea more. My office is going to connect somewhat to the inner side of the monolith, and the idea is to have a big floor to ceiling door that is connected and will be the feature element in the house. Of course the designer wants something that everyone will say “that’s cool”, but we have to see if budget allows. Cool thought though. I really want a barn door, or no, “large designer sliding door”.

The house here is two doors down from us and has the “monolith”

Here is a monolith from ancient times that I found when I googled the word monolith (or “bing’d it for all my MS friends – so tired of lying to all of you that I use bing)…

See the similarities? LOL

Now this photo is really tiny (could not get a larger one), but shows how the monolith carries into the inside:

Here’s another outer shot of a monolith:

So we have to choose the right stone for our monolith, and that will come in time. Big decisions… I have said the word monolith enough for one day. Moving on.

Other things we’re contemplating… Right now the big debate between Bill and me is about having the cooktop on the island in the kitchen. I’m not a big fan of having it there, but it may be our best option, and the alternative is to have the sink there. Bill hates the idea of dirty dishes sitting out on the island. I do agree. Our kitchen is going to be essentially the same size as ours now, but much more open and the configuration is something I really want to get right since we cook so much and spend so much time there. Funny the discussions you get into heavily. The tape measure comes out about once a day as we try to get a sense for how things will look and feel. I’m sure it’s the first of many debates to come.

Another discussion that came up was the height of the ceiling in the downstairs bedroom that is going to serve as our workout room. We were at the house the other day and it occurred to me that we are not raising the ceiling in there at all (it’s at “garden” level), and Bill’s head could potentially hit the ceiling when he’s working out on the elliptical machine. Ouch! Measurements taken and questions raised, I think we’ll be okay, but sure glad I asked!

Last one is that we decided we want to keep the wood burning fireplace that already exists on the lower level. I think this may make our designers head explode as he already told the builder he didn’t like the esthetic of keeping the existing chimney, but too bad! HA! The builder really wanted it too, but designer talked him out of it. Could be a battle, but how awesome would that be? We’re excited for that one. Could also save us $ in not having to remove the chimney. Nothing like a wood burning fireplace.

So right now, just getting ideas, debating, debating, and searching for inspiration. Oh, and waiting. Thanks for reading!

I’ll start out by offering my apologies as it has been far too long since I have updated. I was caught off guard by how many of you are paying attention! I guess that is the life of a blogger – lol. It is exciting to have so many of you ask what is going on with the house, and I appreciate your interest and moral support since this is not as much fun as thought it would be. I know it will be fun at some point, but right now, it’s just annoying.

So what is happening you ask? As far as any “groundbreaking”, i.e. roofs coming off, editions being built, kitchens being designed, finishes being chosen or walls being demolished, the answer is absolutely nothing… So if you are in this blog for those highlights, I suggest you stop reading now (Bob Anderson). We are STILL figuring out how to make all of this work. I hope this doesn’t bore you all, but here it goes…

As you know from my last update (or if not, just to recap), the lot is large, but not quite large enough to subdivide as it stands now. We need two feet from the neighbors lot in order to make the lot large enough to subdivide. When we have that settled, we intended to sell off the back lot (our house sits on the front of the property), which would pay for our entire remodel. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, it did to us too, and with the assistance of the builder and our designer, we set those wheels in motion.
But one thing that you have to keep in mind and what complicates things is that we have no money at this point. We now have two mortgages and a home equity loan, so all our cash is gone and we have nothing to offer the neighbor. Builder says he can manage that aspect of it. But did he hear us? We have no money. Seriously, we have no money. So, builder approached neighbor and negotiated with them to sell two feet to us. Great, and after we picked ourselves up off the ground and recussitated ourselves from the shock of the price they want for the two feet, we asked who was going to pay them. Did mention we have no money? Well, builder has a possible solution for that. He has a buyer for the back lot, and in order to be in on this deal that could make her a lot of money as well, she may consider putting up the money for the neighbor. Hmmm, nice lady. Okay, so how does all this go down? Contract has to be drawn up for the purchase of the two feet from the neighbors. We have to give them some earnest money. Wait, let’s clarify, we have no cash. First obstacle. Next, somehow the lady (going forward known as BLL – back lot lady) has to get involved in the contract as she may be paying the neighbor. Second obstacle. Then lot has to be re-surveyed and sub divided. Lots of paperwork, and negotiating with the city. In addition, we have to go back to US Bank and renegotiate our mortgage
because once we divide the lot, the property that we originally purchased does not exist anymore and may not be worth as much as we are mortgaged. And if you read what we went through with US Bank to even buy this property, you can understand why we wouldn’t want to do that. Third obstacle. Neighbor selling the two feet also has to refinance their mortgage as their property is not what it was originally – 2 feet less. Lawyers, banks, taxes for them. Fourth obstacle. Now builder starts to outline more costs associated with dividing the lot. Sidewalks have to go in, city fees, his fees have gone up for handling all this, and we’re going to need to come up with some money to pay him to do all this even
though BLL is elegedly paying the neighbor. I’m not sure if I mentioned, but we have NO MONEY, so now the subject of us getting a construction loan comes up. We had never even entertained that idea since we would have the money from the back lot, but now it looked like we were going to have to investigate that. Fifth obstacle. And as all this is going on, the builder sends us a letter of intent that he wants us to sign so he can be assured we will work with him. Seriously? Okay, now these aren’t obstacles anymore, these are red flags. This is so complicated and complex that at this point, Bill and have a major reality check. We feel a bit like we have depended soley on the builder to lead us through this process so far. That’s why the letter of intent was so surprising. We have no “intention” of working with anyone else, and it was hard to understand why he needed us to sign such a document. We have been nothing but loyal to him and probably a bit too loyal when it comes down to it. I do get it though, he’s just covering his end of it and making sure we don’t flake out on him, but seemed so out of place. Anyway, his letter of intent had the opposite effect. We decided we needed our own team to review things from our end. Hired a lawyer, tax accountant and reconnected with the real estate agent we used to buy the property. We also considered if we needed to be looking at other builders. Taking matters into our own hands. We also started inquiring at banks to see if we could get a construction loan. Ugh. We also had a chat with our designer who is the most awesome guy. He has worked with this builder for years and assured us he’s the guy we want to be working with. We expressed to him some of our frustration. Mainly with the extremely complicated nature of this transaction of dividing the lot, but also a bit with the communication and the lack of understanding by the builder of our financial situation.
The steps required to divide the lot are all balls we’re juggling, but have to come down and tasks need to get completed in some sequence that just seems impossible. We also realized we have no context for how this is all going to happen let alone any timeline for completion. We used the designer as a bit of a sounding board and he completely understood. In fact, he called a meeting with the builder that he could “mediate” to get back to basics. Before that meeting as Bill and I were having our reality check, we discussed the idea of not dividing the lot right now. Maybe we should just get a construction loan (if we could – we’re mortgaged to the hilt), do the remodel, sell our current place, move in, let things settle down, and then subdivide the lot later. Hmmmmm, could that simplify things? We also learned from our new tax guy, that if we sell that back lot in the first year of owning it, the capital gains taxes are going to be about 3X as much as they would be if we waiting a year and a day. Interesting information, and boy are we glad we hired our own team.

So we go to this meeting with the designer and builder, and what does he propose? He proposes that we don’t subdivide the lot right now. HA! Exactly what we were thinking! He suggests that we try to get a construction loan, do the remodel and subdivide later. If we can’t get a loan with one of the lenders we are dealing with, he has someone he works with that can probably make it happen (wink wink). We start to review the numbers, and although there are some additional fees we have to incur if we just do the remodel, we will get those paid back in the future when we sell the back lot. After discussing it for a while, we realize that it feels much more reasonable And comfortable to do this. The designer makes a great point in that the original plan of subdividing first would be more suitiable to a real estate investor, and not for two people (yahoos) like us that just want a cool new house. I like him even more now.

Okay, so now we start the process of getting the construction loan… Bills department for sure and he’s so amazing (hot) when he’s “working the numbers” and seeking out the best mortgage broker. Oh my, maybe that’s for another blog. Lol. Should be interesting, but so far the lenders we have spoken with said it is doable to get the money we need to do the construction (wow, really?). The only question is, will we be able to eat? I guess they will bundle all our loans together which could ease the monthy payments, but we’ll know more later.

Part of getting the construction loan is having construction estimates from the builder which we are getting now. The wheels are in motion. Thank goodness!

Now the fun part! More drawings!!! I will post them as soon as I’m back in front of my computer (presently posting from the iPad at 35k feet). Our designer is close to submitting our plans to the city for permits. So we actually have pretty firm drawings of what the house will look like once we get there. It strikes me so funny that all the design and permit work stays in motion no matter how many obstacles you hit on the financing side. It’s like “hey, look at this great house I may never get to live in!” I shouldn’t be so negative, I’m sure we’ll get there. The design work has been really easy. Darren nailed it pretty much from the start and we have only made pretty minor changes. There’s only so much he could do in the space with all we wanted, so that made it a bit easier, and I’m glad for that.

So here are some of the drawings and points of interest (if you’re interested):

Flipped the workout room and MagnaMemos studio. Realized I wanted studio on the main floor for general ease and shipping/receiving simplicity. Yes, I have a shipping and receiving department. It’s called me and Bill.

Lots of work on the kitchen. It’s actually no bigger than our current kitchen which became an issue since we cook A LOT. Had to move some things around to gain some space and I’m still not sure about the cooktop on the island. Still think we may make changes. TBD

My office (main floor) is going to be the most kick ass room in the house. ‘Nuf said.

Birth of the “monolith”. More on that in the future.

Laundry/pantry combo walk through off the kitchen is my fave. Check it out. Amazing space with wash tub in the laundry on the side if the M2 studio for my use when needed for M2.

Garage = bigger. More MagnaMemos needs. Poor bill. 🙂

I think that covers it to this point. I will do my best to be better about posting. Thanks for reading!

Lots of good feedback from everyone on the idea of this blog, so thanks! I’ll keep updating, but not too much happening now. After closing we met with our builder and designer. We had already been working with them, so the designer had another update to our plans based on our feedback, and the builder had some ideas about how to move forward with the actual work. Since we just closed on this place, we are esentially out of cash, so the discussion with the builder ground to a halt a bit. LOL So much of what we do depends on the sub division of the lot, so it’s a very complicated process. It’s a matter of the builder using his investors or finding an outside investor to commit to buying the back lot which will essentially finance our remodel. That is BEST case scenario for us so we don’t have to finance it ourselves or with a construction loan. In addition, the process of sub dividing the lot is extremely complicated. Since the lot is not technically large enough to subdivide as it stands now, we need to buy 2 feet of property from one of the neighbors to get it to the legal size to divide. That is easier said than done. Maybe I should bake them some cookies… Lots of things have to happen for this to move forward, but we’re not in any hurry, so it’s okay. We just need to explore our options, and if we think it is going to take a longer time than we thought, we will consider renting it for now since it used to be a rental anyway. So nice to have options, AND nice to have things within our control again. Being a slave to the bank was not easy for us and we’re so glad that’s behind us. Anyway, we should hear from the builder this week with some proposals, so we’re anxiously awaiting that.

In the meantime, we stopped over at the house on Thursday. It’s been unusually cold here, and we wanted to turn off the water and turn the heat on. We walked in and the house was a chilly 45 degrees, and so we got the heat going (after running out for batteries for the thermostat-ugh). Then we started searching for the water shut off. We found it and so Bill turned the valve off, and of course it started leaking. GEEZ! So I went scrambling around for a bucket and found one in one of the creepy sheds (had to get by the fear of touching anything)… Water collected over the next few days and eventually stopped. It’s dawning on us that we have to take care of this place in the meantime while we figure out what we’re doing with it. Too funny. Just hope we don’t get squatters.

So by popular demand (Bob Anderson), I am posting the initial drawings our designer put together for the layout of the house via the remodel. Our designer Darren met with us a while back and we went through everything we needed in this house. We have to admit, he pretty much nailed on the first try. We only made a few minor adjustments, but somehow he got everything we needed into this space. We’re keeping a fair amount of the existing house and not messing with foundation etc, so that was not an easy task. Very cool. The photos I’m posting here are all of the interior, and I will post a drawing of the exterior when we get further along as the one we have now is rather crude. The coolest thing to note about the construction of the outside is the roof. The first thing they do when the construction starts is to completely remove the existing roof (and I mean like taking off a hat!) to make way for the new roof which will be a sloped more modern roof to heighten the ceilings, bring a ton of light, and make the most of the views. We don’t have very “modern” taste, so I was worried it was going to be too contemporary, but I think it will work. We’re incorporating more stone elements and some craftsman style elements to counteract the sleek design. It will be interesting.

Anyway, enjoy the photos and more to follow…

Okay, main floor. Where you see the words “main floor” is actually our front door, technically on the side of the house (south side). The staircase/workout and garage is the addition, and the rest of it is the existing house that will be heavily altered. Office on this floor will be Karen’s. The deck side faces west (front of the house/street side) which is where the views are so we are doing a large deck there and then a wall of sliders creating an indoor/outdoor living space. The setbacks for the property won’t allow us to have a deck any wider than 5 feet which is too narrow to get a table on, so we are going to have our dining area right up against the wall of sliders to make an all year round outdoor dining area. The kitchen will be larger than what we have now, and the pantry will be an added bonus. We struggled with the workout room, but the designer found a great spot to work that in next to the garage. Patio off the back which is super private and access to it from various points. The stairs you see in the front off the deck are going to be the existing stairs you see in the original house photos. Right now they are a set of big ugly concrete stairs, but we can save ourselves a lot if we just keep them, spruce them up and use them as part of the patio. Bill is not convinced…

So this is the addition that sits on top of the garage. Will be a totally separate master area, and the office will be Bill’s.

This is the lower floor which is like a “garden level”. The back of it is built into the hill, so as you can see, the wine storage area will be on the side that is built into the hill. Bill has dreams of making this a cave, but I think we will settle for the fact that the proposed wine area is going to be underground which will control temperature. It will sit under the new staircase. But more importantly than that 😉 is the very large craft studio on this level that will have a plenty of room for MagnaMemos, and a bonus of a separate area for spraying (glue) that will be vented etc. Very cool. Spare bedroom down here with full bath as well as a large family room. Lots of privacy for our guests… Patio off the front/access to outside is actually the front of the house, and the area where the staircase is will be our new front door. The front door will technically be on the side of the house for added privacy.

Took a walk by this morning and snapped a few photos to give you an idea of what we are working with.

Not the prettiest, but got good bones which is all we need. So hard to imagine how different it will look!

Front of the house. Hard to see but we are built into the hill which is really great. We sit up a bit and the lower part of the house still has views. The entire roof will come off and become a high pitched roof to make the most of the views. Left side will be a large deck with full sliders for “indoor/outdoor” living.

Garage with shop above which will be demolished to make way for the addition/new garage off the back of the house.

Sunsets are going to be amazing. Facing West.

Lake and territorial views!

Creepy shop above the garage. Lots of spiders in there and about a million nails and screws.

View from the back of the lot to the house. All the brown blobs on the grass are apples from these two apple trees that will sadly be demolished. This is the part of the lot that we hope to sell. Then there would be another house built here, and there’s plenty of room for that!

A couple of odd buildings on the back of the lot. Think this one was a chicken house/coop. Not getting any closer to this one…

You may be reading about our last couple days of closing on our new house, but didn’t even know we were looking. Well, we weren’t. We decided we should back up a step and explain how we got to this point.

Then we learned a bit more about our real estate agent. Her husband is a builder and together they seek out properties with older homes on them and have done a handful of beautiful remodels around Kirkland. We started looking at his work. Very impressive. This may be the way to go. Find one of these older homes that are sprinkled in between the palaces that are being built in Kirkland and remodel. It had possibilities. Now we just had to find one. We figured we were in for the long haul and that was fine with us. We love our current home and are very happy here, so no rush. And Bill kept saying “If we move, it has to be 100% perfect – at par or better than this place”. He was certainly not going to comprimise, and I agreed. We settled in and were prepared to look for 1-2 years before finding something that would work.

About 24 hours into “settling in” mode, our agent sent us a listing for a property on 1st street in Kirkland. A 1959 home that was being used as a rental for students from a local college. It was around the price we thought we could manage (as we would need to keep our current place while this one was being remodeled), and looked like it might have possibilites. But this place had something we did not know at the time, but we were about the find out. We were running some errands, so we decided to drive by. Our agent offered to meet us there, and brought her builder husband. We made it up to the top step of the front entrance and our agent said “turn around”. Bill and I turned around and at the same time said “holy $#@&!” An unbelieveable view of Lake Washington and the Olympic Mountains. WOW. The property was fine, but the price was all about the view. Then it just got better.

We walked into the back yard and saw the enormous lot. The builder explained that with some agreement from the neighbors , the lot was sub dividable. In other words, we could potentially sell the back lot to the builder and that sale could fund our remodel on the front property. Of course it means that there would be a house on the back lot quite close to us, but the financial side was awesome and that’s city living, right? The subdivision was maybe easier said than done, but it was a possibiity. Within 30 minutes we had made a full price offer.

It was Saturday and the seller was not going to entertain offers until Tuesday (can you say “bidding war”?), but the selling agent and our agent and her husband knew each other well. A few phone calls, a bit of a selling job by all parties later, and we had mutual agreement. About an hour later another couple came to look at it and wanted it, and the following day there was an open house on the property and two other couples wanted it as well as about 5 other builders. We realized we had aligned with the right people and snatched this property out from under everyone. Then the scramble for financing began. Not going to waste a lot of time on that, anyone who has been through it knows how painful it is, and this one was especially so. Ugly, but we got there, and now the real work begins.

Well, it’s 6pm and we’re having a glass of wine. Nothing new about that except that we are FINALLY official owners of 1714 1st Street in Kirkland. WOO-HOO, Hooray and congratulations to us!!!

Yesterday we signed all the papers, and today was the day everything was to be recorded with the county and funds moved to the seller – that all happened. Of course as in the theme of this entire transaction today’s events did not go off without a hitch. The bank took forever to move the funds over to the title company and they just barely made the 2pm run to the courthouse to have everything recorded. Ugh! I just picture the guy running to the van heading to the courthouse yelling “wait, wait, I have the Yaeger file”. Seriously, this entire process has been this way. We have a meeting next week with the manager of mortgage banking at US Bank to talk about our experience, and we are ready to unload on them about how badly this entire process was handled. The last 4 weeks have been so stressful, we’re only now starting to realize how much as we “decompress” and get back to focusing on our real lives. Rough…

We’re trying to let go of the stress and anxiety and get to the “good stuff” which is that we are going to remodel this 1959 house into our “dream home”! We met with our designer and builder today at one of their current projects, and it is really cool to see. This builder moves fast, so once we get going I think it will come together quickly, but we have a long way to go until then mostly because have to figure out how we are going to pay for the remodel. Lots of options there, but we’ll figure that out.

Even before the official closing on the new property we discussed with the designer and builder all of our needs and wants for the new house, and they put together preliminary plans. They are really amazing. Wine cellar for Bill, MagnaMemos studio (to the max) for Karen and lots of other bonuses. The house we live in now is really a tough act to follow because we have everything we could every want or need here (not to mention we really LOVE this house), so we were wondering what they would come up with. We have been pleasantly surprised. We revisited those plans today, and I think we have the start to an overall design that is going to be perfect for us and make the best use of this property.

So then that may beg the question, what is the appeal of this property and why did you buy it? One word, VIEW… Photos to follow…

The question mark behind closing in this title is because for two months we have not been sure we would ever close. Our lender has been difficult to deal with to say the least and we have had to get two extensions of the closing date so far which has put this whole deal at risk since obviously the seller wants to complete this transaction. Frankly, it’s just been embarrassing. We signed papers today and are crossing our fingers that the recording and closing takes place as planned tomorrow. For now, I will enjoy my wine and hopefully get a good nights sleep in anticipation of getting handed the keys tomorrow afternoon.